


Don't You Dare Be Sorry

by ive_been_losing_sleep



Series: Hinata Rare Pair Week [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, and hina's a surfshop worked in a small cali town, kinda rushed but it's a summer romance kind of thing you feel me?, rather reluctantly might i add, takes place in cali, that's just how those things go, yams is a boy from japan touring the world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-25 14:58:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7537222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ive_been_losing_sleep/pseuds/ive_been_losing_sleep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And, as he sits in the yellow truck with Shouyou singing along to “Sweet Home Alabama” beside him, he starts to think that maybe this is what his grandmother had intended when she had sent him on this trip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't You Dare Be Sorry

**Author's Note:**

> DIALOGUE IN ITALICS MEAN THEY ARE SPEAKING JAPANESE
> 
> okay, just wanted to make sure that was clear, carry on now
> 
> //
> 
> Day Three  
> Prompt: “Live, Travel, Adventure, Bless, and Don’t Be Sorry.”

To be frank, Yamaguchi never planned to take a so-called “victory lap” after high school, postponing his college education while he traveled the world for a year. 

But, when your very old grandmother shoves an entire savings account into your hands and requests that you go on the backpacking trip that she never had, it’s pretty hard to say no. 

And, when your grandmother dies with the last wish on her tongue being that you actually go on the trip, it’s _really_ hard to say no. 

And so went the story of how Yamaguchi found himself somewhere on the West Coast of America, baking in the afternoon sun and completely lost. 

The small, sea side town was much too isolated and much too _boring_ to be his intended destination of San Francisco. Standing in the center of a barren sidewalk, he quietly cursed himself for managing to fall asleep on the Greyhound bus that had been carrying him down the coast of California, and not taking the time to stop and make sure that he hadn’t misheard the bus driver’s announcement in the middle of his restless dreams. 

Because now he was in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no clue how to get out. 

Sighing, he hiked his backpack - heavy and stuffed to the brim of junk that he had used throughout the sorry excuse of an adventure, and began to trek through the town in search of somewhere he can ask for directions. 

Which would have been easier if some of the small shacks lining the streets had actually been open. Instead, every shopfront that Yamaguchi passed had a ‘CLOSED’ sign pinned up in their windows or hanging from their front doors. 

So he kept walking, feet dragging against the concrete with each tired step. 

This trip was such a bad idea. 

He was about ready to drop his bag onto the nearest park bench and call it a night when he finally spotted a small shop lit up on the inside. ‘Surfing in the Sun’ was written in cursive across a wooden plank hanging from the front of the shop. In the front window, a happy sign flashed the words ‘COME ON IN’ in a neon shade of orange, and Yamaguchi really didn’t need to be asked twice. 

Sighing in relief when the door swung open and cool air blasted in his face, Yamaguchi shrugged the bags from his shoulders and set it next to the door. Hesitantly, he called out, “Hello?” in hopes that there was someone that works in the store hiding behind the clothing racks. 

To his relief, a voice shouted back, “I’ll be there in a minute!”

Despite the years he’d taken English in school, it had never been his best subject, and it always took him a moment to decipher anything in conversation. Still, this was a phrase that he translated pretty quickly, and Yamaguchi weaved through the clothes to find his way to the front counter. 

Just as he got there, somebody slipped from the back room, skidding to a stop on the other side of the counter. “Welcome to Surfin’ in the Sun! How can I help you today?”

“I was, uh,” he paused for a moment, searching for the right word, “wanting you could give me directions?”

The teenager - his name tag read Shouyou - mouthed something to himself, eyebrow furrowed. “You want directions?”

Yamaguchi nodded. “I am searching for a hotel to sleep.”

Shouyou pulled a pamphlet from a stand of brochures in front of him. Opening it, he revealed a map of what was hopefully their town. “You’re not from anywhere around here?” he asked conversationally, uncapping a permanent marker that had been sticking out of the front pocket of his t-shirt. 

“Japan.”

Shouyou looked up from where he had been scribbling something across the map. “ _Maybe this would be easier then?_ ” 

He spoke in perfect Japanese.

Yamaguchi immediately perked up, and easily slipped back into his natural tongue. “ _You speak Japanese?_ ”

“ _Absolutely._ ” Shouyou grinned. “ _My grandmother grew up there before moving here with my father. She’d have killed her son before she’d allow her grandchildren to not learn how to speak it._ ” Then, to Yamaguchi’s dismay, he switched back to English. “Although, if you’re traveling through America right now, you might need all the practice you can get.”

Yamaguchi groaned. 

Laughing, Shouyou pointed to the map. “The closest motel is down here, just a few blocks down if you follow the ocean.” He frowned. “Do you have a car? They don’t accept anybody after six, and you’d be pushing it close.”

Yamaguchi didn’t quite catch the last part of what Shouyou had said, but he did recognize the bit about the motel closing at nine. 

That only left ten minutes. 

He shook his head, “No car.”

Shouyou’s frown deepened, and he chewed on the end of the pen. “The only other motel is a bit far from here.”

Yamaguchi slumped. “ _Oh no, oh no, oh no. What am I going to do? This whole trip has been such a mess, I should’ve just gone to University. I didn’t even want to come here, but grandma… How would_ she _have known if I had gone on this trip or not? This was such a bad idea, oh my god._ ” He brought his shaking hands to his face, groaning loudly into them. “ _I can’t believe this_.”

“ _Hey.”_ Yamaguchi startled as a hand rested on his shoulder. He had forgotten he was there, and his face reddened at the realization that he had just freaked “ _Calm down for a second, alright? There’s no use getting worked up right now._ ” Yamaguchi nodded and took some deep breaths. “There ya’ go. Now, about the situation at hand,” he grinned, _“I didn’t say that there’s nowhere for you to go._ ”

“ _But the hotels-_ ”

“ _My family is out of town for the next few weeks_ ,” Shouyou interrupted. “ _So that means I have an extra room. I don’t know if you’re comfortable lodging with someone that you just met, but it might be your only option for tonight_.”

Yamaguchi blinked, and Shouyou rushed to continue. “ _You wouldn’t have to pay for lodging, but maybe you could put some cash toward food if you stay for a couple of days? The Greyhound doesn’t pass through here until Thursday, so you’re kind of stuck unless you call a cab or something, but fare would be really expensive, and it would honestly save you some funds if you just stayed here. And maybe you could help me run the shack here? If you have some free time? Would that work?_ ”

“ _Yeah,_ ” Yamaguchi breathed. “ _That sounds alright, I guess_.”

“ _That’s great_ ,” Shouyou chirped, grinning brightly. “ _One more condition though_.

“You’re gonna practice your English while you’re with me, ‘kay?”

 

 

Spending the night at Shouyou’s is turned out to be a better idea than Yamaguchi had anticipated. 

After introducing himself to his new friend - Shouyou kept calling him Tadashi, and Yamaguchi had forgotten that people here go by their given names rather than their family ones - he was led into the backroom of the shack, revealing a flight of stairs that served as the entrance to the small, three bedroom apartment above the shop. The kitchen and living room was a shared space, all tiled floors with sand embedded in the grout and walls decorated with artwork of boats and the sea. The bedroom Yamaguchi was shown had a twin bed and not much else. There was a closet for him to unload his bag into, and Shouyou pointed out the washer and dryer stacked next to the kitchen sink. 

“My room’s just right here.” He jabbed his thumb at the door next to Yamaguchi’s. “So if you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask. Help yourself to whatever’s in the fridge if you’re hungry, but there’s not really a lot in it right now. I usually just end up ordering out when my parents aren’t here, but I can always go shopping if it’s necessary.”

Yamaguchi opened his mouth to turn down Shouyou’s hospitality, to say that he could do his best to not be a burden, but Shouyou was already speaking over him. “And it’s actually really nice to have someone here with me. It gets kind of lonely. So don’t you dare feel guilty for taking up space, okay?”

Yamaguchi floundered, opening his mouth and snapping it shut again before any words could come out. Finally, he managed to drop into a low bow. “Thank you.”

Laughing, Shouyou slaps him against the shoulder. “It’s really no problem. Now, I’m off to bed, shop opens at six. Feel free to sleep in as long as you want, though, you look like you need it.”

 

When Yamaguchi woke up - after one of the most well-rested nights he’d had in a long time - he found a bowl sitting on the kitchen table, next to a carton of milk and a box of Cheerio’s. A sticky note posted on the side of the box read, ‘ _This is all we have for breakfast, but I’ll hit the store later!_ ’ in messy handwriting. 

Frowning, Yamaguchi left the cereal untouched and snuck down the stairs to the shop below. From the backroom, he could hear Shouyou talking to somebody, a conversation that Yamaguchi couldn’t entirely understand despite the occurrence of the words he did know, like ocean and water. He waited until the voices went silent and the bell above the front door jingled before he stepped out of the room. 

Shouyou stood at the register of the counter, tapping his fingers against the wooden table top and humming loudly. His bright hair stuck out in several directions at once on one side, like he had given up on combing it halfway through the procedure. He was bafe-foot, flip-flops abandoned underneath the table. 

“Uh, Shouyou?” Yamaguchi moved to stand next to him. 

“Oh, Tadashi!” Shouyou chirped, much too lively for someone who had woken up at six o’clock in the morning should conceivably be. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes. Thank you for, um…”

_What was the english word for ‘allow’ again?_

He backtracked. “Thank you for offering your bed to me to sleep.” _Was that right?_

“It’s really no problem.”

“You wanted me to work here?” Yamaguchi asked. He had little to no experience in retail, especially not with english-speaking costumers, but Shouyou had offered him a bed, and it was the least he could do to repay him. 

But Shouyou shook his head. “It’s kind of slow right now anyway,” he explained. “You could go explore the town a little bit fi you wanted to? This was intended to be a vacation, wasn’t it?” At Yamaguchi’s nod, Shouyou grinned. “It is kind of a small town though; aside from the beach, there’s not much else to do. But you must have known that when you came here, huh?”

Yamaguchi scratched the back of his neck. “I wanted to go to San Francisco.”

Pausing in his fiddling with the buttons of the cash register, Shouyou turned to stare at him. “Do you even know where you are right now?”

“I’m thinking it is not San Fransisco?”

Shouyou whistled under his breath. “You’re in Francine, right now. Long way from San Fransisco.”

“Not close,” Tadashi clarified. 

“Nope.”

Yamaguchi sighed sorrowfully. “ _Right, of course_.”

For what it was worth, Shouyou looked at him sympathetically. “Yeah, San Francisco has a lot more to offer than Francine does. But!” He hopped a little bit excitedly. “There is always the beach. And that always manages to cheer me up.”

Yamaguchi briefly wondered if Shouyou ever really needed to be cheered up.

“C’mon,” he sung, bouncing around to lock up the register and vaulting over the countertop. “I’ll lock up - there’s not much business on a Wednesday anyway - grab a couple of our surfboards, and we can go-”

He had lost Yamaguchi at the word ‘Wednesday.’ “ _Wait, what_?”

Shouyou screeched to a halt in front of a wall stacked with tapered wooden boards. Surfboards, Yamaguchi realized as Shouyou repeated in Japanese, “ _Do you know how to surf, Tadashi_?”

Yamaguchi just shook his head. 

Sulkily, Shouyou stepped away from the surfboards. “It’d take a few lessons to learn, and by that time… Oh! I know! Paddle boards!”

“Paddle boards,” Yamaguchi parroted, ducking to the left as Shouyou ran past him to the storage room. 

“ _They’re kind of like surfboards_ ,” Shouyou clarified. “ _Except you don’t have to catch any waves or anything. You just stand on them and paddle around for a bit. It’s fun, I promise_.”

Dubiously, Yamaguchi followed Shouyou into the storage room. Almost immediately, Shouyou shoved a bright orange life jacket into one arm, then grabbed Yamaguchi’s free hand to lift high into the air. 

The blush that colored his face was definitely from surprise. 

“Hold your hand up as high as you can,” Shouyou instructed, and Yamaguchi opted to comply rather than stutter out some kind of denial. Shouyou spent a few moments staring at Yamaguchi’s palm critically - it was raised high over his own head - then grabbed a paddle from the wall next to him and stood it up next to Yamaguchi, adjusting the length of the handle until it barely reached the bottom of Yamaguchi’s fingers. 

“You’re tall.” The comment sounded more spiteful than observational. 

“Yes,” Yamaguchi started to say, but Shouyou was already spinning around, gesturing wildly at a few surfboards leaning against a shelf. 

“Help me carry one of these.”

Yamaguchi held out the life jacket and paddle in his hands helplessly. “But-”

“Right. Those in the care first.” He marched toward a door and shoved it open. “ _Throw those into the back of the truck, then come help me._ ”

Scurrying to the car parked along the back of the building - a bright yellow truck with the words ‘Surfing in the Sun’ painted on the doors in a just-as-bright blue - Yamaguchi pushed the jacket into the corner of the truck bed while laying the paddle flat across it. Then, he returned to the backroom to find Shouyou struggling under the weight of one of the paddle boards. 

Swiftly, Yamaguchi hustled to lift up the other end of the board, tediously helping Shouyou carry it through the door and into the back of the truck. “That’s one!” he chirped happily. “Help me with the last one please?”

And Yamaguchi was nodding in agreement before he even realized what he was doing. 

 

Shouyou was odd to be around. Just being in the general vicinity of him was like being caught in a tsunami, the force of the current tugging and pulling Yamaguchi along without a proper hold for him to hold on to. The events leading up to Yamaguchi sitting in Shouyou’s banana colored car, cringing as the other boy sang along to old, American rock songs that even Yamaguchi recognized, had all passed in a blur. He was constantly moving and, as if by some law of physics that Yamaguchi had never studied - if partly because it was something waiting to be learnt at the University he was currently delaying - everything around Shouyou was constantly moving as well. 

And apparently that included Yamaguchi. 

Up to this point, the majority of the trip had been spent in the limits of his already popped comfort zone. He went to the tourist attractions, saw the sights that the locations had to offer, then promptly moved on. He had never actually stopped to talk to anybody, never given anything the chance to leave a long-lasting impression on him. 

And, as he sat in the yellow truck with Shouyou singing along to “Sweet Home Alabama” beside him, he started to think that maybe _this_ is what his grandmother had intended when she had sent him on this trip. 

So he just went with it. 

“ _Why do we need to drive to the ocean?”_ Yamaguchi asked, hoping that Shouyou wouldn’t notice his transition into Japanese.

Unfortunately, Shouyou cupped a hand to his ear in a ‘ _what was that?_ ’ gesture, and Yamaguchi tried again. “Why do we drive?”

“Well, paddle boarding in the ocean is kind of a bad idea,” Shouyou admitted, and Yamaguchi furrowed his eyebrows. 

“So where?”

“There’s a cove not far from here. The water’s really still there, so there won’t be any waves trying to tip us over.”

Yamaguchi didn’t know what the word ‘tip’ was, but Shouyou took his hands off the wheel long enough to make an animated gesture of pinwheeling his arms, so he managed to get the gist of it.

Yamaguchi was pretty sure that he’d end up knocked over and head first in the water with or without waves. But Shouyou looked excited and eager to get out there, so he sat back and let him continue his awful singing. 

Eventually, after many terrible covers of various rock songs, Shouyou swerved the car onto an unpaved trail that led down to the ocean, and finally Yamaguchi could see the cove. 

It wasn’t much really. Just a small pocket of water cut off from the rest of the ocean by two stretches of land that never quite reached each other. The water was still the same murky blue, and the sand was more sharp than it was soft. But it was calm. 

But then Shouyou threw open the car door and charged toward the water, and any semblance of peace was thrown out the window. 

“Wait, Shouyou!” Yamaguchi called futilely after him, but Shouyou had already ran straight into the water. He disappeared beneath the surface for a few moments, and Yamaguchi waited for him to pop up again. 

“Hey!” He yelled when Shouyou’s head became visible. “ _Didn’t you forget something?_ ” He tilted his head toward the paddle boards. 

Shouyou’s jaw fell open, and he climbed out of the water. “Right!” Dripping wet, he stepped up onto the tire to lean into the truckbed. “Here, Tadashi.” Suddenly, the life vest was pulled over Yamaguchi’s head, and Shouyou snickered at his dumbstruck look. “ _Orange looks nice on you._ ”

It was a joke, Yamaguchi knew this, but pink still crept over his cheeks. 

To cover it, he said, “ _Well at least that makes one of us._ ” 

Shouyou stared at him blankly, arms sticking out of his own orange life jacket as his hands reached toward his hair. “ _Did you.. did you just_ sass _me? About my hair._ ”

_Oh no_ , Yamaguchi thought. _Had he?_

But Shouyou was _beaming_ , bright and happy, and Yamaguchi realized that it wasn’t a bad thing. 

“ _Just you wait, Tadashi,_ ” Shouyou sung as he heaved a paddle board over the side of the truck. “ _When you tip into the water, I’ll be relentless with my teasing. I’m not letting that one slide._ ”

 

Yamaguchi was right to expect that he would fall into the water, and Shouyou wasn’t lying about his teasing. 

Except none of his jokes could really be heard over his own raucous laughter. He stood on his own paddle board laughing for a solid fifteen minutes before it started all over again when he nearly fell off his own paddle board from the glee. 

“ _You’re dripping wet,_ ” he croaked when Yamaguchi finally managed to get his feet underneath him. 

Grinning, Yamaguchi replied, “ _So are you._ ”

Shouyou still giggled. “ _Yeah, but I_ intentionally _jumped into the water_.”

“ _That’s not what I meant,_ ” he snickered, promptly shoving his paddle against Shouyou’s shin and effectively knocking his friend into the water. 

Now it was Yamagichi’s turn to laugh. 

So he did. 

At least until something knocked into his board from beneath the water, upturning it and once again sending him toppling. 

Both he and Shouyou surfaced at the same time, and Yamaguchi was quick to splash the other’s face. 

“Stop, Stop!” Shouyou laughed. “ _I call a truce!_ ”

Huffing, Yamaguchi pulled himself onto his upside-down board and lay flat on his back, too lazy to do much else in the warm sun. Beside him, Shouyou did the same. 

A few beats of silence passed, before Shouyou broke it. “ _It’s not San Fransisco,_ ” he started quietly, “ _but I hope you still enjoyed it here_.”

“ _You might not believe me, but this is the best place I’ve been on this entire trip._ ”

Quickly, Shouyou rolled over, shaking his board and nearly falling back into the water. “ _You’ve been other places?!_ ”

Yamaguchi sighed, nodding. “ _My grandmother gave me the funds for this worldwide trip. To travel the world and experience life. To be honest, it hadn’t been much fun until I got here._ ”

_“What made Francine so special?”_

A large part of Yamaguchi wanted to blurt ‘YOU,’ but that’d be much too weird to say to someone he’s only known for a day. 

And, maybe it wasn’t so much _Shouyou_ that made the place special. Maybe it was more along the lines that this was the first place where he’d actually _tried_ to enjoy himself, even if it did take a bit of coercing from a local. The first place where he let himself experience the world rather than just see it. 

The first place where it’s truly felt like an adventure. 

So that’s what he told Shouyou. 

He smiled forlornly. “ _I’ve always wanted to travel,_ ” he stated. “ _But my family has always been low on funds. A majority of our funds are going to Los Angeles right now; my sister had surgery recently, to fix a heart murmur that suddenly got bad. She’s honestly okay now!_ ” he rushed when Yamaguchi sat up quickly. “ _But money’s still been kind of tight. So I’m working the shack instead of going to University, saving money so I might be able to get out of here one day._ ” He laughed quietly. “ _Francine’s great and all, but it’s no San Fransisco._ ” He winked. 

“ _Why don’t you just travel with me?_ ” 

Honestly, Yamaguchi hadn’t even thought of the idea until it was already slipping out of his mouth, but he didn’t have a single objection to it. He liked Shouyou, maybe more than he was willing to admit considering he met the guy yesterday and might not see him again after tomorrow. 

But Shouyou shook his head. “ _Your grandma gave you the money for your own trip. I couldn’t cut it short by adding extra expenses_.” Yamaguchi wanted to argue, but Shouyou was already covering his tracks. “ _And I really need to be here for now, I think. My parents are in L.A. for the rest of the summer, and I can’t just leave our only source of income._ ”

“ _I’m sorry,_ ” Yamaguchi whispered. 

And it wasn’t just for Shouyou. 

He was sorry that he was going to lose a friend - and someone he may want to be more - before he can ever really know him. 

“Hey _!_ ” Shouyou snaps, grabbing one of Yamaguchi’s hands to drag him closer. “ _Don’t you dare be sorry. Not for something like this._ ” Then, just as suddenly, he snickered. 

“ _W-what’s so funny?_ ” Yamaguchi stuttered, too focused on the fact that Shouyou was still holding his hand, letting their fingers drop lazily into the water between them. 

“ _I have this book at home that I got for Christmas when I was little and wanted to travel as a professional career._ ” Yamaguchi giggled, and Shouyou hissed, “ _Don’t make fun of my dreams_.”

“ _Sorry, sorry_.”

“ _Anyway, the book is like a travel journal kind of thing. You record where you are, what it’s like, you add a few notes maybe throw in a photograph. A record of the adventures. On the cover, there’s a quote from this old guy who I’ve never really heard of, but my parents must’ve thought it was neat because they bought it for me right?_ ”

“ _What does it say?_ ”

“Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don’t be sorry,” Shouyou said, then repeated its translation in Japanese to make sure the meaning wasn’t lost. “ _So you can’t be sorry, okay?_ ” The hand held in Shouyou’s is held tightly, and Yamaguchi returns the pressure. “ _You’ll just have to tell me all about everywhere you go, you got it?_ ”

“Yeah,” Yamaguchi murmured, using their intertwined hands to pull him closer to Shouyou. “Yeah, I got it.”

And they lay there, staring at the sky on their paddle boards until long after the sun has set, the both of them too involved with their own thoughts and the thoughts of each other to notice the passing time. 

 

The Greyhound passes through Francine the next morning. 

At Shouyou’s insistence that punctuality is of the utmost importance, they wait at the stop twenty minutes before the bus is even meant to arrive, clutching at each other’s hands and begging for the minutes to stop disintegrating between them. 

Shouyou’s Skype address and phone number are a heavy weight in Yamaguchi’s pocket, but it’s not one to burden him. The burden comes more from their implications, the reasons that they are necessary, and the reminder that the time is short.

They heard the bus rattling up the road before they even see it, and Shouyou took the warning as an opportunity to place a swift kiss against Yamaguchi’s cheek. 

Yamaguchi faltered. “ _Was that an American thing?_ ”

“No,” Shouyou said in English. “It’s an I-like-you kind of thing. And don’t think I didn’t notice that our entire conversation was in Japanese yesterday. So our first date - courtesy of Skype - will be entirely in English.”

“Huh? Wait,” Yamaguchi took a breath. “You want to,” dammit, what was the word in English, “date me?”

“For the record, I am a firm believer in the success rates of long distance relationships as long as both parties are interested in upholding one?”

“Yes, yes.” Yamaguchi nodded hurriedly; the bus was already coming down their road. “I am very interested.”

Shouyou grinned. “That’s good.” Then, he pressed his lips entirely onto Yamaguchi’s. “I rushed the first kiss, ‘cause we’re kind of on a time crunch,” he murmured as he pulled away. 

Yamaguchi, at a loss for any english words, just pulled him into another kiss. 

By the time they had pulled away, the bus was already parked behind them. 

Shouyou shoved him forward gently. “Go on. Have your adventure.”

Reluctantly, his feet inched toward the bus. Probably deeming him as too slow, Shouyou pushed him again. 

As soon as Yamaguchi had stepped into the bus, the doors were already closing behind him. The bus driver glanced at him impatiently, and he scuttled to a seat, dropping his head against the window to look at Shouyou before he couldn’t anymore.

Shouyou waved, then pointed to his own back. ‘Backpack’ he mouthed, as the bus began to pull forward. 

Urgently, Yamaguchi pulled his backpack into his lap, rummaging through it. At the bottom, beneath his small pile of clothes and protein bars was something rectangular. A book, he realized as it was unearthed. Leather-bound and new-looking. 

The words “Live, Travel, Adventure, Bless, and Don’t Be Sorry” were printed across the front of it. 

Immediately, Yamaguchi was turning back to the window, book pulled tightly against his chest and mouth open to yell at Shouyou for giving him this. 

But the bus stop was already out of sight. 

And so was Shouyou. 

With shaking hands, Yamaguchi flipped open the cover, only for his eyes to be met with another inscription, this one newer and messier than the one on the cover. 

‘Give this to me the next time we meet! I expect this thing to be filled with everything that you find yourself doing over these next few months, you hear me? But don’t see it as an excuse not to call and update me!

‘And you better leave plenty of space too! I’ll be joining you on your next adventure!

‘So don’t you dare be sorry for leaving me behind just this once.’

Now, Yamaguchi knew this for sure.

Out of all the places he could’ve gone, nowhere would have left as much of a long-lasting impression as the small, sea-side town of Francine. 

Nothing would have left as much of a long-lasting impression as the local boy he had met there and had only really known for a day.

But that just meant that he’d have to meet him again someday.

And even when he’d have filled the journal with scribbles and notes and photos of his travels, there’ll still be room. 

There’ll still be room for Shouyou to join him. 

**Author's Note:**

> not even i was sure i could do it, but i've done day three!!! i actually wrote this after day four, so the me from the past is going to be surprised
> 
> i hope you all enjoyed yamahina. they are adorable children and this ship is adorable
> 
> as always, i'm looking for people to yell at me on [ tumblr ](for-shou-yo.tumblr.com) so feel free to come stop by! 
> 
> tune in tomorrow for some kurohina fairytale business


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